Melanie Muench-Day has the answer to the affordable housing debate in DuPage County: Give up the dining room.
That’s what she and her husband, Larry, did in 1989, when they moved to Downers Grove to accommodate their growing family and be closer to her elderly parents.
Muench-Day and her husband had a two-bedroom bungalow in Brookfield, a snug fit for the couple after they had their first child in 1984. She became pregnant again about four years later and they decided to move to Downers Grove.
“We found that in order to get a third bedroom, we had to give up living space,” Muench-Day recalled. “So we gave up a dining room.”
Now they eat in an alcove near the living room and are glad they didn’t wait any longer to move to DuPage.
“If we hadn’t moved here when we did,” Muench-Day said, “we couldn’t afford to live here now.”
Many DuPage residents can offer similar tales.
Affordable housing has been an issue in DuPage County for years. Over the last decade, experts say, at least four fat reports on the subject have done little but gather dust.
But a recent Tribune poll on a range of topics shows a rather peculiar trend about affordable housing: Fewer people believe it is a problem.
Over the last six years, support for construction of affordable housing has declined in DuPage, from 76 percent of those polled in 1991 to 51 percent of those polled during June, according to the survey.
Yet 63 percent of adults responding said it will be more difficult for young people to achieve the same standard of living they enjoy, and almost half said local government is failing to do enough so retired people can afford to continue to live in their towns.
The survey results are a mixed bag, perhaps reflecting that DuPage’s housing boom has brought in more diverse perspectives.
But it’s still hard to say why so many people now see affordable housing as less of a problem.
Has the number of affordable housing units increased? Or have people become more complacent about the plight of the less fortunate? Or, perhaps, it simply isn’t the problem it was once thought to be.
John Day, executive director of the DuPage Housing Authority, doesn’t think so. The authority has a waiting list of several thousand people seeking help in finding affordable housing, Day said. He estimated that the wait for people on that list is five years.
“Without a doubt, there is a need,” Day said. “The question is what we can do to help address this issue.”
But those like Robert Mackowiak, 47, of Naperville, who began working in Lisle in 1971 and commuted nearly 60 miles round-trip from Chicago until 1973, don’t see the lack of affordable housing as a problem.
“When I started, I could not afford to live in the suburbs,” recalled Mackowiak, who works in the software telecommunications field. He and his wife found an apartment in DuPage in 1973, and saved for two years before they could buy a house.
“I did whatever I needed to do to take care of my family. If you’ve got to drive 15 to 20 miles one way from work to do that, I’m sorry, folks. Grow up. I had to do it. My pop had to do it.”
Mackowiak was among the 43 percent of those polled who oppose construction of more affordable housing. A total of 49 percent of respondents said they would support construction of less-expensive housing for people who work in their area but cannot afford the homes.
The reason he disapproves, Mackowiak said, stems from a growing skepticism that big government programs work effectively, and from a homeowners’ concern for property values.
“I tend to equate something like affordable housing with a federal program,” Mackowiak said. “That raises a red flag and says, `more spending, more debt.’ “
But don’t accuse those who don’t see the need for government housing efforts of racism or class bias, he said.
“I don’t think it’s because they hate poor or homeless people,” Mackowiak said. “This isn’t bigotry or racism. It’s financial fear. It’s because people have got everything wrapped up in their real estate and some bureaucrat doesn’t care.”
Some encouraging news about affordable housing has sprouted in the last year in DuPage. Habitat for Humanity, the highly regarded international home builder, has built or restored 14 homes in DuPage and gained more acceptance after encountering opposition in a few early projects.
And 83 percent of poll respondents said they would support Public Action to Deliver Shelter’s providing an overnight shelter in their towns. Only 13 percent of respondents opposed PADS coming to town.
Those results may reflect the solid reputation that PADS and Habitat For Humanity have developed through years of work in the suburbs.
Muench-Day supports the shelter organization’s mission and has even volunteered at a local PADS branch at her church. She also sees the irony of survey respondents who say they oppose construction of affordable housing but support the efforts of PADS.
“They feel like they’re doing good by saying it’s OK to have PADS–as long as they don’t live here,” Muench-Day said. “But many of the people wouldn’t be in PADS if they could afford to live here.”
So, what can be done?
“I think one of the first steps is that we have to acknowledge that this is an issue,” Day said. “It becomes a matter of getting out the word. Everyone knows somebody who could benefit from affordable housing, and when you personalize it like that, it makes it much more powerful.”
